The Stage

TV review

Published Monday 8 December 2008 at 14:55 by Harry Venning

Based upon Henning Mankell’s best-selling crime novels, Wallander was very firmly rooted in that school of detective fiction that asserts that the investigator is almost as great a mystery as the murder.

We first meet Inspector Kurt Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) unkempt and unshaven, wandering chest deep through a belligerently yellow field of rape seed, looking for the teenage girl who has been reported behaving in a distressed and unusual manner.

“Oi, mind my crop,” yells the farmer in broadest English, immediately reassuring viewers that although the series is set in Sweden, we are to be mercifully spared any attempts at hurdy-gurdy Nordic accents.

As Wallander approaches the terrified girl, he announces himself as a police officer, triggering a hideous and unexpected response. The girl douses herself in petrol and sets herself alight, leaving Wallander to look on in helpless horror.

As if a dose of work-inspired post traumatic stress disorder weren’t enough to make Wallander a tad morose, he also has to contend with his recent divorce, estranged daughter and an irascible artist father - whose approval Wallander never enjoyed - who is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s.

When Wallander is charged with investigating a series of brutal murders, you cannot help but think that if the killer planted his trademark axe in the detective’s head he would be doing him a favour.

It is all so studiously melancholy in tone that Wallander teeters precariously on the edge of parody several times. The crumpled look is also slightly distracting. Is Wallander allergic to razors? Are there no dry-cleaners in Sweden?

As for the police procedural aspect of the show, well this was deeply disappointing. There was no whodunit to speak of, since there was only ever one character who might have. Wallander was saved interminable legwork, thanks to the contributions of a somewhat omniscient journalist informer, which struck me as something of a cheat. And even Inspector Clouseau would have made the link between the sexual abuse of several young women and the dissolute artist proudly displaying a large canvas of his pre-pubescent daughter in her underwear.

But Wallander still holds the attention, thanks to a terrific performance from Branagh in the title role. He plays the angst-ridden detective with great restraint, yet still succeeds in conveying all his contradictions and complexities. Wallander could yet prove to be heir to the tradition of Inspector Morse, albeit with fewer laughs.

Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe took time off from spewing cheery vitriol across the television schedules to interview writers about the craft of writing.

These were clearly writers that Brooker admired, so his interview technique was disconcertingly sympathetic.The end result was a masterclass from such luminaries as Russell T Davies, Paul Abbott, Tony Jordan and Graham Linehan. All of whom spoke wittily and winningly about the combination of prevarication, panic and perspiration that produces a television script.

Ironically, the most pertinent point of a fascinating 50 minutes was made by a writer who wasn’t even present. Abbott quoted Jimmy McGovern on the ever prickly problem of presenting exposition in dialogue: “I would rather be confused for ten minutes than bored for five seconds.”

DETAILS

Wallander - BBC1, Sunday, November 30, 9pm

Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe - BBC4, Tuesday, December 2, 10.30pm